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Vincent van Gogh. Self-Portrait with a Bandaged Ear and a Pipe (1889)

December 8, 2015

The artistic genius of Van Gogh committed various tricks that brought him more pain. He cut off his ear for no apparent reason and painted a self-portrait afterwards. He soothed pain by smoking a pipe. Youry Bilak found a man at the frontline near Mari- upol who closely resembled the Dutch artist. Viktor, the person on the photograph, came from Rivne region in western Ukraine. In his civilian life, he was cultivating a garden, raising children and then his grandchildren. He rushed to Kyiv when the Euro- maidan (Revolution of Dignity) started in 2013 and later to war in eastern Ukraine to protect the future of his children, grandchildren and the whole of homeland. Viktor’s involvement in the revolution paved the way to a war. Many Ukrainians were captured and tortured by Russia-backed militants. The militants beat them and cut off limbs of some of the hostages. At the photograph, Viktor imitated such a prisoner whose ear was cut off by the militants. Similarly, a pipe soothes his pain.